JESSIE MEI LI

IS STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS…

Soon to return as Sun Summoner Alina Starkov in the second season of hit Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone, British-Asian actor Jessie Mei Li worked in a school before Edgar Wright cast them in Last Night in Soho, and will soon star alongside Tom Hardy in Gareth Evans’ Havoc. ‘I’ve got quite a strong inner force. When I want to do something, I’m not afraid to do it.’

What changed going into Season 2 of Shadow and Bone?

Alina’s not necessarily having a very good time this season, which is hilarious because I’m quite jovial! I was definitely more savvy the second time around. I’m a human being with ADHD. I struggle to keep myself together, and I’ve gotten better at putting boundaries in place.

Did Shadow and Bone open a lot of doors?

Yes, but I realised that I need to be careful with my time. I see a lot of the young actors going from project to project and think, ‘I don’t understand how you do it, because I would be dead.’ I’ve had to accept that about myself.

Havoc must have been a project you couldn’t say no to…

I’m a huge fan of Gareth’s work. You have your typical archetypes of the jaded detective and the younger, idealistic detective. They’ve been paired up. Which was really great for me to play, because I grew up watching all these Hong Kong detective films with my dad, who was in the police in Hong Kong. It’s an action film with some absolutely amazing sequences.

Dream project?

I’d love to play a creature! Playing a nonhuman character is so interesting, and I’m an absolute weirdo; I feel like it would become me. So if anyone wants to put me in a mo-cap suit to ‘Benedict Cumberbatch’ around on the floor, I’ll do it. Gollum mk 2, that would be my goal.

SHADOW AND BONE SEASON 2

STREAMS ON NETFLIX FROM 16 MARCH.